Election Commision’s banners against ‘cash for vote’ all over the constituency

Sources from the Election Commission have stated that the campaign in being launched by the Greater Chennai Corporation in consistency with its ‘free and fair’ bypoll objective.

A poster urged the electorate to take a vow that their votes are not for sale. “Poduvom Vottu. Vaangamaattom Nottu (Let’s vote. Let’s not receive currency note),” EC’s catchphrase read, along with the visual of cartoon characters as voters. The poster also carries the contact numbers, 1950 (EC) and 1913 (Chennai Corporation) in case of complaints of complaints to be made.

“Similar campaigns were carried out on previous occasions too, and there are several other important measures in place to create awareness among voters,” said a senior official from the Election Commission. On preventive measures, the official said that they had brought the banks under their surveillance.

“We have instructed the banks in RK Nagar, Royapuram and Perambur to alert us if simultaneous payments are made to multiple accounts. This will deter political parties from making payments directly to the bank accounts of RK Nagar electorate,” the official said. “We have also instructed the telecom operators to intimate us in case of bulk recharges made to several mobile numbers. We are also planning to hold talks with electronic payment services like PayTM for monitoring,” he added Earlier in April, the EC had cancelled the bypoll to RK Nagar constituency, which fell vacant following the death of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa due to allegations of widespread cash distribution to the voters. Based on specific information, the I-T department conducted raids on various premises, including that of Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar, linking a large-scale bribery of voters to the tune of Rs 86 crore.